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Laura Sandys MP, the chair of the Conservatives’ 2020 Productivity and Efficiency Commission, has suggested that responsibility for policies on UK recycling, waste and resource efficiency should be passed to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), many of Collect and Recycle’s (https://www.collectandrecycle.com) business clients should be interested to read.

As part of her role on the Commission, Ms Sandys is set to publish a report in January providing Chancellor George Osborne with recommendations on how the UK economy can be made more resource efficient. Responsibility for the UK’s waste recycling policy presently rests with Defra, but the Commission will suggest that secondary materials could be better integrated into supply chains if this policy area is taken over by BIS.

Ms Sandys added while speaking at the launch of the Practical Path to Resource Efficiency report that another recommendation of the Commission would be a ‘Remade in Britain’ campaign showcasing how the UK economy has used secondary materials and recycling. She said that it was with this ‘Remade in Britain’ theme in mind that a BIS unit could be created with responsibility for the development of resource efficient business.

Also set to be recommended by the Commission, those recycling old computers and other materials may be interested to know, is the drawing up of a new metric of profitability by the Treasury and BIS, on the basis of GDP failing to reflect the performance of businesses.

The Conservative MP for South Thanet commented: “This is a country that imports a lot of resources. How are we going to compete therefore on price but also on resource availability? The Government hasn’t really thought about resource efficiency as we have traditionally always been able to go out and buy things when we want them.”

“But my message to the Treasury is that there is a huge risk to our supply chain,” she added, stating that she had spoken to Mr Osborne about the need to drive down costs to make business more internationally competitive. She said that there was a need to “start thinking differently”, with metrics on profitability not having been looked at.

This was why, she added, her report recommended that productivity and profitability are regarded as “key metrics” by the government. Ms Sandys furthermore pointed to the current UK remanufacturing sector as being worth around £5 billion, stating that it had the potential to become a £10 billion industry.

All of these recommendations are likely to be of interest to the many organisations taking advantage of such services as scrap metal recycling and cardboard collections from Collect and Recycle (https://www.collectandrecycle.com). Whatever your needs as far as business waste is concerned, we are committed to providing the most compliant, efficient and affordable service – doing our bit to ensure a more resource efficient UK.